Firefly
by Her Sweetness
Summary: Ryou has too many memories he's tired of holding onto, memories of people living and dead. When he meets a psychotic arsonist named Bakura, he begins to hope he can lose his troubled mind in fire the way Bakura has. [BakuraxRyou]
1. Prolouge

Disclaimer: I don't own YuGiOh.

Her Sweetness: Hey, look at this. This is another of my, uh, serious works. I want to make this one really good and I knew I had to work with characters I liked to develop. So here we are. Please review, I want to make this one good.

* * *

Firefly

Prolouge

The generous and—as anyone else would have told him, had anyone else known at the time—crazy offer Ryou made on the 25th of September was made in the late evening when the discolored leaves swept their way through the gutters of Domino and the lampposts on every street corner were lit and glowing in the early autumn air. There was a feeling of wariness and despair in the September winds that blew the week before the day of the offer. The people could feel it as they walked up and down the streets and engaged in their daily activities and anyone looking from the outside in would not see the hesitation in their movements and the people of Domino themselves could not even recognize the hesitation for what it was but it was there all the same.

Ryou, being an average teenager of average intelligence and no particularly exceptional talents, did not know these feelings either and was going about his business the week before his offer as he usually would any other given week of the year. He took out the trash and tended his room (although it did end up quite dirty on some occasions), made sure the leaves were raked (which he preferred to mowing the lawn in the summer) and kept his grades up, or at least as high as he could which meant somewhere around a B- average.

He kept up appearances with his friends as well though he really didn't consider himself a part of their little clique and really didn't have much in common with the four of them. Despite all of that, they were people to sit with at lunch when he had forgotten his book and they sometimes listened to him when he had problems, not that he really every told them about the larger ones. And they were people to hang out with when Father went away on his expeditions and stayed away for weeks and weeks. Sometimes a two-story house at the end of a street with the big tree in the front yard and the old, leaf and dust-covered swing set built for two in the backyard was a painful place to live in by oneself.

The town itself, Ryou sometimes thought when Father had gone and was not around to distract his thoughts, was actually a lonely place to be with or without Father or part-time friends. Especially in the autumn and winter time when everything seemed too quiet to be left alone in. The snow, when it fell, blanketed the dead leaves and silenced the children and the teenagers from their games.

The snow brought on bad memories. The ice and the car accident. Ryou hated the coldness of that season, the way it brought those memories flooding back to him and the way Father was usually gone around Christmastime. There was only him shopping for a present to send to Father and the dull disappointment of getting the box back in the mail because Father changed his expedition site without writing to tell Ryou about it. And the dull wondering of if that letter got lost in the mail too.

So Ryou waited for the winter and the disappointment and loneliness during the autumn. He waited and raked the leaves to get everything nice for his Father's second trip that year to the south of Egypt for a dig that seemed to be promising. At least that was what he heard Father talking about with his colleagues on the phone the night before he was readying to leave. The suitcases were packed and lay closed on his Father's starch white sheets. Ryou had done the laundry.

"Do you need anything else?" he asked, looking down on the suitcases mildly. He'd stopped blaming the expeditions a long time ago. This was just life, he told himself, and life sometimes took people to faraway places.

Father was in his bathroom, trying like usual to get his tie on in the mirror. The door was open and he said thoughtfully, "No… No, I don't think so. I think I have everything. All the usual. Clothes, razors… Ryou, I—"

"I know," he laughed.

Father came out of the bathroom, his tie hanging loose around his neck. He looked at Ryou with a tired smile and Ryou came over to him and tied his knot in the dusky light coming through the open windows. He did so delicately, brown eyes fixed on his task.

"I'll never learn to tie this darn thing," Father said lightly.

"No, probably not." Ryou nodded when it was done and took a step back. His brown eyes were fixed on the perfectly tied knot. The tie was light blue with hummingbirds flying in disarray on it. He wore the same tie every time he went away. Ryou had stopped hating it a long time ago as well, just like the suitcases.

Father took in a deep sigh and went to fetch his suitcases.

Ryou felt the urge to stop him from going, as he always has but a few years ago he stopped trying. It just made things harder and he never got his way. "Have a good time," he said. "Find something worth while."

"As always." Father winked at him and Ryou smiled genuinely on accident.

They walked down the stairs together, Ryou a couple steps behind and watching him as he left, knowing he probably wouldn't see the man again until the spring melt began and the leaves grew lush and green on the trees again. The house already seemed to expand and the dust mites seen in the light of the open windows almost seemed to multiply as they went out to the front lawn.

Father put the suitcases in the trunk and Ryou stood by the passenger's seat window, watching. When the trunk was closed, Father stood up straight and looked at his son, no smile or laughter or winking, just a soft stare and Ryou returned it. The sun was setting just behind him.

"I'll see you soon." Father walked towards him. "You know the time will fly like that and then I'll be back to bug you about schoolwork and chores."

Father never asked him about any of those things.

"I know, dad," Ryou said. He went to hug him and it felt fake but comforting. When they parted, Ryou tilted his head to the side a bit and asked, "What would you like for Christmas?"

"I'll be back before then."

Ryou didn't say anything.

"But just in case," Father resumed, "a nice hat would do. You know how hot it is over there, even in winter and my poor head has no shade."

Father had dozens of hats in his suitcase.

"Okay, dad. Have a good time," he repeated.

"Bye, Ryou."

He walked past Ryou and went to the other side of the car, got in and put the key in the ignition. The old BMW that Father had had for years started up and as always, Ryou felt the strong urge to throw himself on the gravel under the car. It amazed him how strong that urge always was. Father backed out of the driveway and honked the horn three times before he drove down the street. If Ryou used his imagination, those three honks sounded a lot like "I love you."

Ryou raised his hand and waved until the bumper sticker that said _Rock n' Roll City _could no longer be seen and when it couldn't, he stopped waving and bent down to pick up the rake that lay in a pile of leaves. That big tree just kept shaking its leaves off and there were always more to be raked. He began to do so and as his pale hands moved the tool, he sniffed and sobbed and let the tears run in gushes down his face. That was something that he could never stop.

XXXX

The next morning he woke up in Father's bed. He always did the day after Father left and sometimes for a few days after he left. The pillow was still a little damp from his tears and his eyes were red, he was sure, from all the crying. He got up and went into Father's bathroom to check his reflection and yes, he was red in the eyes and his nose was a bit swollen.

Luckily, he thought, he'd woken up on time for school and dressed in his uniform. Unluckily, he thought, he hadn't woken up as early as might have liked to and had no time for breakfast before he left the house. He did, however, catch sight of the calendar as he walked through the kitchen and saw that it was Tuesday the 21st. There was such a long time to wait until Father returned.

The thought clouded him on his way to school. He walked down the streets covered in leaves and a bit of rainwater left over from the weekend showers. His schoolmates he could see up ahead, walking quickly in droves to try and get to the school building before the first bell rang. Seemed they had slept in a little too.

"Wonder if _their_ fathers left them for Egypt too," he muttered.

He did not rush the way they did. The way Ryou saw it, he either got their on time or he didn't and he didn't intend on breaking his neck just to avoid one solitary glare from the teacher. Ryou wasn't late anyway; he made it before the second bell and was in his seat by the final one. His first class he shared with eighteen other students, the sum including the four people he considered to be friends although he used the term loosely.

He turned his head a bit and noticed Yugi, who seemed to be somewhat of the group's ringleader, throwing him a friendly smile and Ryou returned it but wasn't sure it could be seen over some other kid's head. Yugi one time asked him why he sat all the way on the other side of the room and Ryou had dully answered, "I like the window view."

Yugi had once tried to sit next to him and attempted to pass notes during class. He had sent a folded piece of paper saying _What's going on?_

Ryou had sent it back saying _Please don't bother me during class._

After class that day, Yugi had apologized to him and Ryou forgave him lightly. He played the part of the goody-goody so no one would think to get him involved with things he truly wanted no part of.

When Ryou made it into class on the 21st, he sat there without interruption and took notes from the board in his notebook and listened to the teacher talking. Listened but didn't hear a word he was saying. Ryou was too busy thinking about Father and the way he could never tie that stupid tie of his and how ridiculous he looked with hummingbirds around his neck.

There was that dumb old _Rock n' Roll City_ bumper sticker he never took off and the way he lied about never having a hat just so Ryou would have something easy for him to get, like Ryou _wouldn't_ spend good money on Father or _couldn't_. The way he was always gone in the winter because he could not stand to see the lonely swing set in the back yard and could not deal with Domino because of the ice and the memories of the accident. The way it was so cold and Egypt was so hot, and it never reminded him of home in winter.

The way he left Ryou to deal with the ice and the memories as if Father thought he had none. The way the house expanded when Father was no longer there and the way it seemed not cozy but intimate when he was there, like it pushed them together to comfort each other even though they never did. The conversations were dry and light and if they could not hold a light conversation, there was silence and there was nothing but the dust mites in the light of the open windows that Ryou coughed on at night.

The leaves that never stopped falling, that cracked under his feet as he left the empty house and came home to rake but he never seemed to get all of them. Sometimes he thought about poor Father, how it must be so hard for him but then he thought of himself all alone with all those things and he shouted at himself _Poor_ Father_? Poor Ryou…_

_Poor, poor Ryou._

* * *

To be continued…

* * *

Her Sweetness: If you want another chapter, review. :D This is just the prolouge, by the way. Next chappie will be longer. 


	2. Rollercoaster

Her Sweetness: Thank you for the nice feedback. Here's the next chapter! Hoping I can get more reviews this time. :)

* * *

Firefly

Chapter One

Ryou awaited the end of the day so he could go home. He used the term home loosely as the person who brought the word at least somewhat to life for him was away overseas. But those lonely thoughts he tried to stall. School was no place for getting oneself worked up although he had cried in school before, luckily making it into a bathroom stall before beginning to sob and hoping in the back of his mind that there was no one else who would come in at that exact second.

Especially not Yugi and the others, if they would see him cry then they would know he had bigger problems than not being able to get an A in pre-calculus or never being able to do more than twenty-five pushups in gym class without falling down. They would pry and ask questions and Ryou would eventually give in and tell them how lonely he got when Father went away and when winter came around.

They would probably stick around him constantly then, hoping he would no longer be lonely with their company and maybe that was the answer to his problem: turning his fake friends into real ones. But no, he thought, that would take too much time and I don't have time for real friends anyway.

The school day seemed to pass without interruption and the hesitation in Ryou's movements and the wary way he walked to the side of the hallway when going to his locker, these were motions that not even he took notice of because it seemed so normal but, in reality, it was not. There were differences that not even he could place and they seemed to come from everywhere at once. The bells rang, it seemed a moment or two early for each class and maybe no one noticed but maybe they did and thought this was leading up to something, preparing them for something.

Ryou reached his locker at the end of the day and twisted his combination. He got it right on the first time, a rarity.

"Hey," said a voice and Ryou recognized Yugi's greeting even though his face was hidden by the locker door.

"Oh. Oh, hey, Yugi." He fished around for his textbook. "How are you?"

"I'm good; you?"

"Fine." He found it and dropped it in his bag.

"Listen, I'm going home for a while but around five, me and the guys are going over to Joey's house to play some videogames. You want to come?"

Ryou looked at him for a moment, moving the locker door close and heard the click of the lock inside the workings. He shook his head, smiling a little. "No, thanks."

Yugi frowned. He had a hard time taking no for an answer. "Are you sure? You seemed so down today."

"Yeah, I know. I'm really tired; I didn't get much sleep, that's all. I'll go home and take a nap. Maybe even sleep straight through morning."

Yugi nodded. "You do that then. See you tomorrow," he said and waved behind him as he disappeared into the crowd of teenagers.

"See you."

Ryou turned back around and started the opposite way down the hallway, towards the front doors and outside. Most of the kids walked home and so did Ryou, actually enjoying the pleasant air and the light breeze that ruffled his hair. Once he broke away from the groups of his classmates and went down his street, the silence he heard was comforting. Different from the silence at home when Father wasn't there; this silence was filled with small noises: birds rustling the leaves, cars driving, the distant bark of a dog.

At home, there was only the sometimes dripping of the upstairs bathroom tap.

He continued down the street, his sneakers shuffling through the leaves on the sidewalk. Just over some rooftops, he could see his own with the shingles that really needed replacing and a boomerang by the top of the chimney that some kid last summer had thrown up there and no one had bothered to get it down.

Through the comforting silence, wheels of a car that were not light and easy going as the green van that had passed only a few minutes ago came down the street, rolling slowly. Ryou turned his head and saw that it was a police car, black and white with a DCPD decal on the side and a quiet siren on the roof. Inside was a man that Ryou couldn't see too well as the windows were tinted and rolled up.

Upon coming close to him, the windows, suddenly, began to roll down and the car rolled slower next to Ryou. Ryou, not knowing what was going on but sensing it meant trouble, tried to speed up without looking to conspicuous. The car only kept pace with him and the windows were all the way down now and the man, who Ryou could now see had a small mustache and a mole on the side of his right eye, was leaning over the passenger's seat a bit, looking straight at him.

Ryou sighed inwardly and stopped walking. He turned a bit as the car had stopped also. He didn't need to say anything as the cop had already taken the opportunity.

"Hey there. Goin' home?"

"I am," Ryou responded stiffly.

"What's your name?"

"Ryou. I live in that house, there." He pointed and the cop didn't follow his finger. He only nodded and leant back in his seat.

"Think I mistook you for someone else."

"Maybe."

"You be careful." He started to drive again and Ryou watched as the car turned down the street and was soon out of sight, just like Father's BMW the day before. Only there was no feeling of sadness now, just relief and confusion. Who could he possibly be confused for?

The question lingered in his mind only until he got home and the door shut behind him. Then the quiet came he suddenly didn't care who the cop thought he was. He felt a little twinge at seeing the dust mites in the afternoon light and decided to close the curtains in the living room. When all of the curtains were closed on the first floor, he sat on the couch and pulled out his textbook and worked out his homework problems. He was still working when the sun set and the lampposts on the street corner by his house slowly lit itself.

XXXX

The lampposts lit themselves and the stars rose overhead. Bakura watched with cat eyes as the suburbs of Domino settled down for the night. He had only learned the name of this city that day, from billboards and the news that was on all of the television sets on display at Lawson's Repair Shop he bypassed in town. He only stayed out long enough to figure out where he was and by noon he had found the woods at the edge of town and sat back under a large oak tree. He stood now, under the same tree where he'd sat for more than eight hours.

Nighttime in Domino looked promising. Domino, period, seemed promising… _fresh_, he thought, finding the right word. Domino seemed fresh, untainted and new, ready and waiting for him like a virgin in her wedding bed for the first time.

He really had no idea how he had come to be here. Just the next stop, he thought. Like Papa used to say, _Just a little stop on the rollercoaster called Life_. Sometimes Bakura thought back on his sometimes wise, sometimes not, sayings and giggled childishly at the thought of him saying those things one last time. Maybe he should have said that as his last conscious thought instead of screaming bloody murder.

There was a dog barking in the distance and this brought a smile to Bakura's features, those pale lips that caught the eyes of many as he passed through towns and cities, houses and valleys. He wished he didn't draw so much attention to himself sometimes. That seemed to be the problem in Cartersville.

"All those goddamn _eyes_," he said to himself.

Now he was in trouble. The news he saw as he bypassed Lawson's Repair Shop not only divulged the name of the city but showed the blurry photograph that had been taken of him back in Cartersville. Sometimes Bakura cannot remember so well and suddenly, the memory came back to him; the boy in the barn. The haystack and oh God, that good feeling he had gotten from it but he had been careless and now he was in trouble.

Maybe he would not cause trouble here, he thought. Despite Domino's obvious promises to him and his needs, he thought he may have to just lay low for a few days and move on. Lingering here would not do at all. Being caught would not do at all.

"But for now, I think this would be a good place to set up camp." Bakura nodded to himself, grinned, and then giggled, not being able to help it. He started down from where he stood by the large oak tree and went off in the direction of the barking dog. His jeans that were splattered and stiff with dry mud and grass stains shifted as he walked and slid and he felt the little book of matches in his back pocket move as well.

XXXX

The textbook Ryou had been working through before he fell asleep on the couch tilted and fell to the floor with a soft thud. He had been working for hours, though not really working because his problems would have only taken him a half hour at most. He'd been thinking of Father again while he doodled on his loose leaf sheet of paper. Thought of Father, almost cried, and instead turned on the television to distract him.

He thought he would turn it to maybe the cooking channel but the news was on and so he watched that instead though Ryou has never been known to care much for the affairs of others. The lights were off and the windows were locked, curtains closed. The dust mites were there, still, but they did not make him cough.

Ryou drifted and finally slept. He woke a few hours later, just from the soft thud of the textbook hitting the floor and opened his brown eyes blearily. The news was still on and he heard Tom Brentwood, the late night reporter, speaking of a tragedy somewhere in a surrounding city. The murderer has gone unfound but police are searching desperately, he said. No one else must be hurt, he said. Though police suspect he may be heading for Domino, they have no real lead.

They showed a shaky picture taken of the man and Ryou thought, before falling asleep again, _Looks like Father…_

XXXX

Ryou woke with a start when the light from in between the curtains hit his closed eyes just right. He opened them and squinted at the light. That kind of light wasn't good. He sat up and listened and didn't hear the faint sounds of the birds chirping outside, not good either. When he finally turned around, the living room clock showed the time of 8:47, he groaned and held his head.

"I overslept again," he moaned and got up. He stumbled from sleepiness and grabbed his book. He stood and looked around, not knowing what to do. "I don't even have time for a shower… I haven't changed," he noticed looking down at his ruffled school uniform. His first thought was to just leave and hope no one noticed he looked a bit off. Then he thought if he was two hours late, he could stand to be two and a half hours late so he headed upstairs for the shower.

He brushed his teeth and took his shower, changed and then grabbed his textbook and backpack again. No one was on the street when he went out and his sneakers hit the gravel of the driveway. No one, that was, except for Mr. Adler across the street, washing his car. He waved at Ryou and Ryou waved back listlessly, not necessarily in the best of moods. He started down the street, adjusting his backpack's straps on his shoulders while trying not to drop his book.

His hair was still wet and stuck to his neck and cheeks, wetting his shirt collar and shoulders. When it was wet, his white hair looked silver and it shone in the sunlight. To anyone else looking at the two of them, Ryou and the sun, they might think they looked perfect together. Or at least complimented each other. The person walking ten steps behind Ryou didn't think either, only thought that the boy should pay attention to where he walked as he was drifting from the sidewalk and into the street, fiddling with that backpack.

There was a fierce honk of a car that came racing down the street and the boy jumped halfway out of the way and the man who had been walking behind him grabbed his arm and pulled him the rest of the way.

"Outta the way, fag!" the driver yelled as he went by.

Ryou, after getting over the initial shock of the moment, blushed and lowered his gaze to the gutter. He felt, suddenly, the strong hand on his arm and looked up, seeing a man who was still raising his middle finger to the red corvette with a grimace on his face. Ryou stared up at him for a moment and then the man looked down at him, taking his hand away and turning around.

"Oh, um, thank you!" Ryou said before he could walk away.

He didn't say anything, only walked up the sidewalk.

Ryou followed, wanting to know if he had heard and also, that was the way to school. He caught up with the man, who, amazingly, looked a great deal like Ryou himself. The pale skin and the hair color. He got a better look when he walked by his side. "I said _thank you_."

"Are you?"

"… Huh? Am I what?"

"Are you a fag?"

Ryou gasped quietly and his eyes rounded. "No, I… I don't know that man at all, he was just being rude."

"Oh. Okay."

The man went off of the sidewalk, crossed the street and headed into the trees on the other side when they had reached the school building's gate. Ryou frowned in his direction and went to the school's gate, saw that it was locked and banged on it with his fist. "Hello!" he shouted. "Hello, please let me in!" He rattled the gate but nothing happened and no one came.

* * *

To be continued…

* * *

Her Sweetness: Review if you want another chapter, don't if you don't. 


	3. Gravity

Her Sweetness: Hey, there. Welcome to yet another chapter.

* * *

Firefly

Chapter Two

"Hello! Hello, _please_…" Ryou's voice grew hoarse after a while and he just stopped, sliding down to his knees. "Great, just wonderful," he muttered to himself. "How can they just lock the gates like that? They know kids are going to be late. Don't they deserve a chance to learn? _Stupid_…"

He turned around, his back leaning on the gate and he sat there, starring at the empty street he had walked down. If Father knew about this, chances are that he would be upset. But not anymore upset than Ryou was. School was the place he hid from that gaping maw that he called home. That lonely place. At least there were bodies here that could temporarily distract him. Now that he was locked out

(_like he was locked out of Father's heart_)

he had no choice but to go back to that place. So he stood and rejected the tears in his eyes. Shouldering his backpack once again, he started back on the way he came, getting over on to the left side of the street and ultimately the sidewalk. He made an unconscious note of not walking into the street again. Looking around, he saw there was no strange man who would save him a second time or, in what Ryou supposed was his defense, flip off a rude driver.

Still, that man had been quite rude himself. _Are you a fag? _Ryou shook his head at the thought. Of course not, he told himself. The thought of being with a woman, much less a man, rarely ever crossed his mind. Not even on late nights when he would channel surf and find a provocative channel that would be of particular interest to any other male his age. He would maybe watch until it got to be too much (and the fact that there could be too much said something to him) and then would switch to the news or weather channel.

But no, he thought, I am not a fag. No, driver, I am not a fag. No, stranger, I am not a fag. He thought this as he went on down the street, eyes narrowed at the sidewalk as he grew warm inside. It hurt when people made assumptions. Especially strangers.

Speaking of which, the silence of the day had a new sound. Ryou looked around and his gaze settled on the other side of the street where that man had disappeared into the brush. He could hear rustling and saw the man's figure in there, a shadow under the turning leaves. It wasn't the best hiding place as it could have been, say, in the summer because a lot of the leaves had fallen dead to the ground and not much of that man could be seen but he was over there.

Is he following me? Ryou wondered and kept walking. As he walked, so did the shadow. But walking wasn't the right word. This man was hiding like a monster in the woods and just what was it that monsters did?

They lurk, he thought suddenly. Yes, they _lurk_.

Ryou decided to let this man know that he was aware of his presence. He sped his walk and said in that direction. "I can see you over there. What are you doing?"

There was no real response. But Ryou could have sworn he heard a giggle.

XXXX

Bakura could not help it again. It was _funny_. He could hear the fear and hesitation in the boy's voice even though it was obvious he was attempting to sound brave. He wondered why the boy had addressed him from the opposite side of the street when he obviously wasn't bothering him—had even saved him from that man who did not know him but called him a fag.

So Bakura didn't answer the boy, just continued to walk as he did. He only switched sides of the street to keep from engaging in conversation though the boy did not seem like the type to continue a conversation with a stranger. Still, he had to play this town smart. This was not going to turn out like Cartersville. Domino had possibilities but he had to play it smart and lay low like he had planned.

"Hello? I said I see you!" the boy continued to say, and his voice got higher and louder.

Bakura stopped and turned in his direction. The boy halted hesitantly; Bakura guessed he saw him starring. He didn't want the boy to yell and cause people to pay attention. He was supposed to be keeping a low profile here. So he stopped and, slowly, he came out of the bushes and from under the dying trees and onto the sidewalk.

The boy blinked at him as he stood there. Bakura kept his head tilted down a little, his silver bangs covering the red glints in his brown eyes. He noticed that this boy had a striking resemblance to his Papa.

"Yes?" Bakura asked.

The boy gulped and stuttered. "W-Why were you following me?"

"I'm not."

"But…" he paused. "But you were just…"

"We can't be going in the same direction?"

"You were going the other direction earlier!"

"So were you."

He tilted his head down as well and mumbled something. Bakura couldn't hear and grunted under is breath, taking a step off of the curb and crossing the street back where he had started. He stood in front of the boy, who, at closer look, looked almost exactly like him, save for a few differences and the three to four inch height difference. The boy seemed significantly uncomfortable when at a close range and Bakura smiled at this.

"I couldn't hear you," he said. "Repeat?"

"I said I got locked out of my school. I'm just heading back home." He didn't meet Bakura's gaze which was just fine with him. "I didn't mean to imply that you were… uh, stalking me or anything… I'm just jumpy. Sorry."

Bakura nodded.

The boy looked up at him, squinted, hopefully from the glint of the sun, and then gave a little smile. He walked away and Bakura stood there for a few minutes, looking after him. He went back into the woods, this time not walking in the same direction. It seemed too risky to have that particular boy see him again. He wandered for a while and turned his head when cars drove by and ended up back at that high school that boy had been banging on the gates of.

Bakura frowned a little. Had he ever been to a high school? He couldn't remember just then. Things were a bit cloudy at that moment and he didn't care anyway, just wondered. That stupid boy, he thought, he could have just gone around back.

Bakura tilted his head and saw that there was indeed another way around the gate and for no reason at all, he tried to find the path. He had to cut back into the woods and walk around the long gate that ended on the school's side. There, there was a door and four large windows. Inside he could see an empty cafeteria. In the open area where there were no trees, there were five or six green picnic tables for an outside eating area.

He sat on the top of the nearest one to him and put his elbows on his knees, facing away from the building. Here was a quiet place. Perhaps he could have some peace here until he was forced to move on. So he closed his brown eyes but he did not sleep.

XXXX

"Ryou?"

Bakura opened his eyes in annoyance.

A boy with spiky tri-color hair was starring at him and had immediately jumped back when Bakura opened his eyes. They had been just a foot apart when the boy said that name but now there was a bigger distance.

"Oh! Geez, wow. I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else…" he hesitated and then went on, "You looked like a friend of mine."

Bakura just stared at him, not knowing what to say, only wanting him gone.

"Are you new?"

Bakura groaned inwardly, taking a hint that this boy would not leave him be like the other one had. He thought of just getting up and walking away but he didn't. He straightened his posture a little before answering, "No. I don't go to this school."

"Oh…"

"Hey, Yugi!"

Both Bakura and the young boy looked up. By the door were three other teenagers, two boys and a girl. The blond boy was waving and was probably the one who had spoken. He continued, "Is that Ryou? Bring him over so we can eat already; I'm starving!"

"In a second!" he called back. He turned his amethyst eyes back to Bakura. For the first time since the boy had disturbed him, he noticed how big those eyes were, how deep. Bakura always had a thing for eyes like that; orbs with depth and weight that seemed to draw you in like the moon to the Earth, eyes that worked like gravity. "Sorry to bother you," he said. "You know, I'd offer for you to eat with us but, well, you're not from this school and I don't think the—"

"I should be going," Bakura said, getting up.

"Oh, alright. Sorry for bothering you."

"It's fine."

The boy (_Yugi_, Bakura thought his name was) smiled at him and those eyes illuminated. Bakura felt a lump in his throat. The eyes closed in a blink and seemed to open even larger before he turned and walked away, back to those kids who had called after him. They went inside the door after a few words were exchanged between the four of them and then the door shut. Bakura looked over to the windows and saw that a lot of young bodies had filled the cafeteria.

He remembered then. He had never been in a high school before. Well, he thought, not to learn…

His eyes began to roll back in his head.

"It's in _here_," he said softly and giggled without realizing it.

A flash of amethyst then and Bakura's head snapped foreword. In the window, that boy was walking a few steps in front of his friends, his head turned around. Those eyes, Bakura thought. Those goddamn eyes.

He walked backwards a little into the woods and took shelter behind a tree where he leant up against the bark and slid down, his shirt catching on the sharp edges but he didn't notice or care. His head was in his hands and he was crouching down with his forehead to his knees.

"What to do," he almost sobbed but was not crying at all. "What to do… _Yugi_. Oh, amethyst… like lilac…"

He did not want to break his own rule. Domino wasn't supposed to be like Cartersville. He couldn't let himself get out of control. He _had_ to wait. If he wanted to play this smart and get away with what he had done, he had to control his urges, no matter how

(_pretty eyes like stones on fire_)

much he was enticed.

He kept his head in his hands and stayed that way for five hours until the bell rung for the final time that day and the kids came out of the building.

XXXX

Ryou was in his front yard when the school bell rang and let the kids out. He didn't hear it of course but he had his watch and saw that it was a little past 2:30. He was raking the leaves in piles and so far had three big piles. He was working on the fourth and for now he maybe had enough for four large piles and one small one. If he were to venture around the neighborhood, he could see kids younger than him and his own age jumping into the piles of leaves. Ryou hadn't done that himself in so long, he couldn't even remember.

Probably ten years ago, he thought.

When he was done a few minutes later, he let the rake down in a pile of leaves and looked up at the large house he stood in front of. He didn't want to stay in all night, he suddenly realized.

And it was odd, he realized, because he never wants to stay in the house all night when Father was away but he _always_ does. He never second guesses himself like that and he eventually finds something to do, some cleaning or homework, something. But he couldn't think of anything that he should do rather than just eat. And that would take no time at all, he thought.

What would he do with himself for the rest of the evening?

Certainly not just sit there in the living room, pretending to do homework and watching the news and thinking of Father. Lying Father and his stupid hats and hummingbird ties that he would never learn how to tie.

Ryou used to say before Father went places, _How can you leave me? Who will tie your ties?_ It never occurred to his fourteen, fifteen and sixteen year old mind that Father would rarely wear a tie on an expedition. So Father was gone and he didn't have to stay in the house, he thought. Why not go for a walk, or something?

"Why not?" he asked softly.

He walked into his house and cooked himself dinner and then got out of his uniform because he wasn't going to stay in that house.

* * *

To be continued…

* * *

Her Sweetness: Please review if you liked it. 


	4. Hesitation

Her Sweetness: Enjoy.

* * *

Firefly

Chapter Three

Looking around in the kitchen, Ryou found only a few things that he would like to eat. Ryou had always been too picky. The cupboards were stocked; Father had made sure Ryou wouldn't have to do the shopping for a while by filling the kitchen before he left. Not that Ryou would have minded doing the shopping; anything to get out of that house.

He finally settled on spaghetti and started the pot of water boiling before he dumped in the stiff noodles. When he had held the pot under the running tap in the sink, he looked up and saw out of the window the backyard; the trees turning their leaves away and all the piles he never raked because he never went back their and neither did Father. The swing set was covered in leaves and little puddles of water under the seats developed from past rains.

A shiver ran down his spine and he had realized the pot was overflowing hot water onto his hand.

He took the spaghetti when it was finished, dumped it onto a plate and put sauce on top, stirring it around with his fork as he sat on the couch in the living room. The television was on and it was odd because he didn't remember turning it on.

Must be from last night, he thought because it was the news.

He ate in near silence. The sound on the television was up a few bars and Ryou could hear the man on the screen talking softly. He gazed up from his plate from time to time and saw a replaying video of a barn in flames. His brown eyes watched the screen and he chewed methodically.

_Still at large_, the man said and they showed a picture of a man's blurry face.

Ryou looked away without much interest and thought, _So familiar._

XXXX

When the bell had gone off, Bakura didn't know what it meant. He had been hearing bells all day as he crouched behind a tree in the woods by the outside eating area. He thought maybe the kids were changing classes again but didn't think that for long when he heard their voices and took his head out of his hands to see the front gates and kids coming out of them, their backpacks slung over their shoulders and their books in their hands.

He stood up slowly and walked foreword, almost in a trance. He made his way in between the trees ahead of him and watched more and more kids poured out of the doorways and bounded down the steps. Bakura's brown eyes raced from face to face and he felt his heart speed up.

_Oh, Yugi_, he thought.

_Please don't let me see him_, he thought.

Still, as badly as he wanted to walk back into the woods, away from temptation or even the possibility of temptation, he was standing at the edge of the sidewalk, his hand planted firmly on the nearest tree. Anyone could see him now but he was not concerned with that, he was not bothering anybody. His eyes searched and found the amethyst orbs that bounced lively on the face of the boy he'd seen earlier.

He was close but far. He and his friends were walking down the street, closer to Bakura's side that the opposite. They didn't even seem to see him. Bakura watched, his face stoic but his eyes wide with wonder, as they walked by and saw Yugi's lips move up at his friends. He could see a flash of a pink tongue and white, white teeth. _Must be warm in there_, he thought but his attention was focused mainly on those eyes.

They walked away and it seemed that they were splitting up, each going their own way. Yugi turned down the street and the others waved to him and he waved back. Bakura took a step in Yugi's direction and then replaced his foot back down.

_I can't do this_, he thought desperately but giggled just the same. He took a step again and kept going, keeping a safe distance behind Yugi. He hated being behind him. He wanted to see those eyes again. That was all. He just wanted to see those glowing stones of amethyst fire.

Just one more time.

_Then I'll go back into hiding. I will. I'll leave Domino in a few days with memories of those eyes and go on. Nothing bad will happen here._

Even as he thought these words, when he turned the corner and saw Yugi look to the side, up at a bird rustling leaves and Bakura saw the glint of the amethyst, he knew these words were untrue. He would have cried had he been capable.

XXXX

The sun had set just a few minutes ago when Ryou stepped out of the house and onto the gravel. It didn't take him that long to eat but he washed the dish by hand and cleaned up a bit even though everything was already spotless. He was just putting off leaving. He wanted to go because the house was so empty and choking, he needed to escape. But, in some way, he needed the loneliness. He missed Father and wanted his feelings to, in some way, bring the man back to him.

But he knew that really, there was no way for that and that he had to get through this autumn and winter. Spring would bring the man back. He had to get there.

"Right," he said softly and went down the street as the lamppost began to light themselves around him and all over the city.

That dog that was always barking was at it again and Ryou realized he had no idea who that dog belonged to. No one on his street owned a dog and if they did, it surely wouldn't be as big as this one sounded. That was okay though, he thought. As long as it didn't bother him, it was okay.

Ryou walked down the street a little and wondered just where he was going. He didn't have to go to the store and he really didn't have any friends to visit… Except Yugi. He could always visit Yugi since he was always offering for Ryou to come over and play video games or watch a movie or just hang out and do homework.

_But I… Yugi and I aren't really friends like that. How can I just show up at his house?_ He thought. But even while he was thinking this, he set his motions in the direction of the Kame Game Shop where Yugi lived, just two blocks away.

_We don't really know each other_, he thought as he reached the corner.

_I've barely held a conversation with him, for Christ's sake,_ he thought as he crossed the street.

_Still, I… I…_He looked up at the building with the picture of a turtle above the doorway. The lights were on inside and on the second floor window; he thought he saw the outline of Yugi in one of the second story windows. There were no rusty old swing sets in their back yard. No dust motes to choke. No hummingbirds.

Ryou stared up at the window and the silhouette of Yugi's lithe body. He closed his eyes and when he reopened them, they were wet.

XXXX

Bakura looked up at the silhouette of what he thought was Yugi's body in the window. He was at the side of the house, tilting his head and watching as Yugi moved around in his room, going about his life. Bakura wondered what those eyes were seeing. If he was in hi bedroom, maybe a bed. Bakura wondered how those eyes would look on that face laying down on a pillow.

_No. No, I can't. Not here._

Bakura felt himself sweating. It was happening all over again and under other circumstances, he would have certainly indulged but this wasn't under other circumstances. He breathed in and then out and reached into his back pocket, taking hold of a small book of matches and opening it, still looking up at that silhouette.

He looked down for a split second and realized there was only one more match in the book. The places where the other matches had been were all ragged stumps now and Bakura looked desperately at that last one. He was not in a real position to get more… Should he waste this one?

_It is not a waste_, he thought. He had to calm himself down or he would get out of control. So he tore out the match and scratched it across one of the muddy knees of his jeans and it lit. He always tried to get light-anywhere matches, if they were available. The started and lit up his face as he held it up in front of himself. He watched the flames dance with the eyes of a child who has just seen a mall Santa for the first time. Eyes of wonder and adoration and _trust_.

He breathed in and out and felt himself become sedate.

That was, until the twig broke and the leaves crunched.

Bakura jerked his head to the right and saw a figure shadowed by the night but a lamppost a few feet behind the person showed their outline. Bakura stayed quiet and held the match. For some reason, he didn't run.

"Is someone there?" the person called out. It was a male, someone who obviously didn't live with Yugi, was maybe just passing by and heard a noise, Bakura assessed. But he hadn't really made a noise. Maybe this person saw the little flame.

Still, Bakura had no idea what to do. He stood his ground and turned away from the building and towards the person, leaves crunching under his sneakers as well. "I was just passing by," he said.

"What? Are you a friend of Yugi's?"

Bakura's eyes widened. This person knew Yugi. He cleared his throat. "I am. Who are you?"

The person seemed to be comforted by this and took the liberty of coming up to Bakura, stepping on all of the scattered, dead leaves on the ground. As he got closer, Bakura realized this person was a few inches shorter than he was. He got right up to the flame and Bakura finally saw his face and vice versa.

"You…" the boy from that morning started.

Bakura said nothing.

"_You_ are Yugi's friend?" the boy's lips curved downwards a little. "But you don't even go to Domino High… Just what in the world are you doing back here anyway?" He looked at the match.

"As I said, I was just passing by," Bakura said dully. "Were you coming to visit Yugi?"

"Maybe… Listen, if you aren't a friend of someone who lives here, you shouldn't be skulking about in their yard. It doesn't look good."

"I'm not here to _look good_," Bakura hissed.

"What are you here for?" He was getting defensive. But Bakura saw it was more of a response to the match than to Bakura himself. Maybe he thought Bakura meant to do damage. What he didn't know was that Bakura was, in the very back of his mind, thanking this boy for coming along and preventing damage to both Yugi and Bakura himself.

Bakura hadn't said anything and the boy sighed. "What's your name?"

Bakura snorted, "Why is it your business?"

"It's not, I just… I seem to see you a lot and… Are you new?"

_Why does everyone ask that?_ Bakura thought but instead said, "Not really."

"Oh…" he lowered his eyes in what seemed to be thought. "M-My name's Ryou."

The match went out.

Bakura looked at it in disappointment and then back up at the window when the silhouette of Yugi was out of sight. The boy, Ryou, who stood in front of him, looked up at Bakura's eyes and his seemed to darken.

* * *

To be continued…

* * *

Her Sweetness: Short, I know, I'm sorry. Longer next time if you review. 


	5. Winged

Her Sweetness: Sorry for the long wait, people. I was not feeling the vibes for this fic. I don't know… I'm kinda thinking of deleting it. Maybe. I don't want this to turn into another Trinity, if any of you remember it. That one was good but I deleted it too because I got depressed. Eh.

* * *

Firefly

Chapter Four

* * *

_Like Father but so different. I've seen those eyes somewhere… but they don't belong to Father… to who? Maybe I know him. I just have to hear his name. Maybe from a long time ago… but… _

Ryou was shaken out of his thoughts by the match blowing out and the way the shadows of the night overtook the man's face. He had tried to stall for time to remember this person, telling him his name so that maybe the stranger would see fit to divulged his own. Ryou wanted to know, had to know, there was some gnawing reason in the back of his mind.

But after the match blew out and the face was nearly hidden, the mood of their chance meeting changed. Though he couldn't see the face very well now, the feeling around the man seemed to darken almost immediately and it made Ryou take an immediate step back. The leaves crunched underneath him.

"I…" he started but didn't really know what to say.

"I think you owe me something," the man said, his voice emanating from the dark, that figure of him shifting a little. There was annoyance in the man's voice, a lot of it.

Ryou took another step back. _Run, you idiot!_ he told himself but he was still standing.

The man took a step forward. "Don't be afraid."

"W-What do I owe you?"

There was more movement and then a little sound of something hitting the leaves they stood on. Ryou guessed he had thrown the match down. He had seemed awfully absorbed in watching it. Ryou was regretting coming back here, familiarity or no.

"That was my last match," the other said coolly. He took a step forward and Ryou stumbled back two, the leaves rustling around his feet, almost making a dry laughing sound.

Ryou shook his head slowly.

The other continued, "Might you have another?"

"N…"

"Repeat?"

"N-No, I don't have another! Leave me alone!" Ryou's voice got louder and this caused the other to flinch. Ryou could almost imagine the other's brown eyes (_they were brown, weren't they? or was it… red?_) shifting from side to side. _Yeah,_ Ryou thought,_ if he's after me, if he wants to kidnap me or something, he won't if I scream. He'll run if he thinks others will come to me._

Ryou waited, hesitated, for just a moment when the man said nothing and he began to shout, "Leave me alo—"

He was on his back.

The leaves flew up in disarray around their bodies as the two of them struggled on the ground, their movements—with Ryou on the bottom and the man on top with one hand over Ryou's mouth and the other fastened securely around his neck—were almost that of two lovers, entangled in passion. And Ryou was crying like a virgin being taken for the first time, his chest moving rapidly up and down, like he was trying to be brave for his lover.

He made a strangled cry and the man lowered his face, his bangs lightly brushing Ryou's forehead.

"Don't scream," he commanded softly, whispering the words. "Please."

Ryou's eyes were wet and he was shivering.

"Are you going to scream? Because I can break your neck. It's frail… I can feel your pulse, you know. It's fast but I can stop it just as quick." These words were also whispered delicately.

Ryou's reply was muffled but he tried to shake his head. When he tried, the man's grip tightened.

"Don't move," he said. "Just blink once for yes and twice for no. Like in the books and movies. Don't worry, I can see you just fine."

This scared Ryou even more but he tried to regulate his breathing so he would be able to think clearly. As it was now, he was under this man's control. He shifted his legs and more tears fell down his face.

"Will you scream?" the man asked.

Ryou hurriedly blinked twice.

There was a pause. The man seemed to be thinking, he turned away for a moment and then turned back to Ryou. He slowly took his hand away from his mouth but kept the other one firmly on his lithe neck.

Ryou didn't waste any time. "P-Please, let me go… I won't tell anyone about this… I just want to go home, that's all, I'll never try to find you, please, I just—"

He placed his hand over Ryou's mouth again.

_Oh God, no, he's decided to kill me, he—_

"Begging bugs me," he said. "And I don't like empty promises."

Ryou paused, looking at him. He shook his head lightly and when nothing happened to free his mouth, he parted his lips a bit and sent out his pink tongue. The man flinched at the flick of Ryou's tongue and moved his hand a bit.

"They aren't empty," Ryou whispered.

"Why should I believe you? You came back here as a busybody, probably hoping I was up to trouble so you could call the cops."

"No, really…" he breathed. "I just came to see Yugi."

The man's eyes darkened.

Ryou stumbled over his words. "Well, kind of… I… I was debating on whether or not to knock on the door. I was lonely. I wanted to see a… a friend. Then I looked around and saw you. I'm sorry."

"…"

"Are you… you aren't really a friend of Yugi's, are you." He made it into a statement, already knowing the answer.

"… No."

"What were you doing with the—"

He slammed Ryou's head into the ground and before the boy could voice his anguish, he pressed both hands over his mouth and suppressed it. Ryou's eyes were wide again and frightened and he thought he would start to cry again.

"Shut up," the man said harshly. "Just let me think for a minute."

But there was no time for that. The window that both of them had seen Yugi's silhouette in was thrown open and the boy with the amethyst eyes and tri-color hair was facing out of the window. Light spilled out of his bedroom. Both Ryou and the man on top of him, down in the yard were further out than what the light could reach, but still, the man tensed incredibly and lay his body completely over Ryou's, almost as if he were protecting him.

_I wish someone _would_ protect me…_

Ryou saw that the man's eyes were closed and his lips were moving. He was muttering something to himself that Ryou couldn't hear over the beat of his heart. _Their_ heartbeats. Their chests were pressed together and they moved together; up and down, up and down.

Ryou shifted his gaze up to Yugi and saw that he really couldn't see them down there. He was just staring. His eyes had an empty hue, deep and away.

"Let's go."

The man's voice shook him out of his thoughts and he felt himself being dragged by the wrist, up and off the ground. He was running, the man taking him at top speed out of the yard and into the woods just beyond Yugi's house. He legs carried him and his thoughts and visions were blurred; senses lost. All he saw around him was the darkness and, in front of him, the silver streak of hair, like a feather, lost from an angel's wing.

_It's like…_

They rounded a corner and the light of a lamppost came over them.

_He looks like…_

The man turned around to face him. They were away from Yugi's house, somewhere on another block, out of the woods.

_Me._

The man opened his mouth but—

"You look like us!" Ryou blurted. "You look like me and Amane!"

His brown eyes seemed surprised.

"Please," Ryou was shaking, "please, what's your name?"

"…"

"Won't you tell me?" he was almost shouting after he had promised not to but that seemed not to matter now.

The man advanced on him, a step, and then shook his head. "No," he said.

Ryou watched him with wet eyes.

* * *

To be continued…

* * *

Her Sweetness: Review if you like it. 


End file.
